MADISON – The
University of Wisconsin will be receiving a $3.7 million grant
award to further study electronic cigarettes over the next five
years from the National Cancer Institute of the National
Institutes of Health and the United States Food and Drug
Administration.

This new
research will provide in-depth, longitudinal information, based
on real-time reports, which will address key priorities that may
inform regulatory and health agencies, including understanding
the relations between inhaling nicotine vapor and:

•
Nicotine dependence

•
Changes in rates of smoking conventional cigarettes

•
Health outcomes such as evidence of exposure to carcinogens, as
well as acute and long-term pulmonary health

•
Attempts to quit smoking and the success of those attempts,
specifically, the UW Center for Tobacco Research and
Intervention and will identify and follow over time 150
participants who exclusively smoke cigarettes and 250
participants who both smoke and vape.

Researchers will
use smart phones and other tools to collect information on
patterns of use of these products, levels of addiction,
withdrawal symptoms, success quitting versus relapse, lifestyle
factors, carcinogen exposure, and how one group of participants
compares.